Phylum Cnidaria
by Sunbird Riding Shotgun
Summary: Gibbs returned and life went on, the world resumed turning, and a certain lab-rat tried to deni she wasn't still on the edge of oblivion, or that it wasn't Gibbs holding her out anymore. Post Hiatus Tony/Abby friendship
1. Chapter 1

**A/n the beginning:** For those waiting for a One in Four update never fear. The next chapter is a little longer than usual and is taking me a little longer than usual.

I also really needed to get this little fic idea out of my head. If people like it I might write a follow up from the morning when Gibbs finds them but I'm not sure yet.

**A/n the ending:** You can read into this what you will, I just had this in my mind from the times I've watched Shalom (possibly my favorite season 4 episode). Abby transferred her hero worship of sorts to Tony while Gibbs was away and I wondered what else happened.

**A/n Lies:** I tried to make Tony as in character as possible or this but considering the extenuating circumstances here I wasn't entirely certain anyone would be acting much like they normally do. Anyway, here goes.

_Warning: Subtle mentions of self harm._

* * *

**Phylum Cnidaria**

* * *

It was late. She'd been insomniac for the past few nights, barely getting any sleep. Tonight she at least had the excuse of some evidence to double-check to stay late. She was running on Caf-Pows and little else and now she was just resting her head for one minute. She'd get up as soon as her mass spec let he know he had something for her.

Footsteps behind her, nearly silent but not quite, told her Gibbs was approaching. She tried to open her eyes, to move to greet him, to beam at him the brightest smile she could to let him know yet again how impossibly happy she was he'd come back to her.

But the sleeping pills she'd taken last night seemed to finally be taking hold and she was being pulled toward oblivion and couldn't fight her way back to the surface despite her efforts.

"Are you sure about this Jethro?" Jenny's voice came from the door.

Abby didn't have to see him to know he was shooting Jenny a warning glare about talking when Abby was sleeping. He pressed a kiss onto the top of Abby's head and retreated before answering Jenny's question. "Yes, and make sure you file the retirment package this time Jen. I'm not coming back from Mexico again"

What? Her mind scream and she fought the sleep claiming her. She had to stop him. She still carried the handcuffs around just for this. She had to wake up. She had to stop him.

She fell to the floor with a crash still unable to move. Her bones gone, leaving her limp and phylum Cnidaria

Even as she fought oblivion claimed her and she knew when she woke he'd be gone.

Abby woke with a start, crying on the floor of her lab, the machines beeping at her but she paid them no mind.

She leapt to her feet, running toward the elevator her lungs heaving as she tried to keep herself together. She'd go see that Gibbs was working just as late as she was, that he was still here, that the world would continue to turn.

The light on Gibbs' desk was out. He wasn't there. It's three in the morning. She told herself. It was enough to hold her together long enough to get her back to the elevator. All his stuffs still there.

All his stuff was still there when he retired the last time.

With that thought she felt her self control crumbling. She wrapped her arms around herself like she was trying to physically hold herself together. She was stronger than this. She wasn't going to fall to pieces because she had a bad dream that Gibbs had left again without a chance to say goodbye. She wasn't going to flip out like she had last time and loose it on McGee because he acted like the world hadn't completely ground to a halt when Gibbs left, she wasn't going to get into a bitch fight with Ziva, and Tony was going to known how to handle her now even though her protector her mentor her her… her anchor, the thing that kept her from flying off into neverwhare, had abandoned her to it without even saying goodbye.

She wasn't going to slide to the floor of the elevator and breakdown. She was too emotionally stable for that. She had come too far since that first month after Gibbs left for her only motivation to leave the elevator was that she didn't have anything sharp on her person and without her silver haired fox she was already flying dangerously far into oblivion and if she didn't do something to stop it she wouldn't be dangerously close to a place she knew she didn't want to be.

She wasn't sitting on the floor crying with the fact that she'd become a jellyfish again the moment her dream had started turning nightmarish the only reason she wasn't repeating the night after Gibbs left.

Her hand found her cellphone. Habit formed in the past months taking over. She was crying too hard to see the keyboard but her hands knew the path by heart. Top left button to menu, twice down to friends, once down to pass Gibb's number for the one who she needed to talk to if she really wasn't going to fly into oblivion.

Which she was still pretty sure she was.

"Abby?" Tony's half asleep voice asked, a female murmuring in the background.

Tony was on a date… or after one… "so…sorry Tony… wrong number" She said, trying to keep the hysteria from her voice. She didn't want to bother him when he was with a date. She didn't want to bother him period, but she needed someone right now.

"No Abbs… whats up?" He said muttering something about a team member to the woman.

"It'… It's okay…" She insisted, rocking herself. Despite how she was trying to get out of the conversation she was clinging to it like the only thing between her and oblivion, which at the moment it was.

"Abby…" Tony said, using the same tone he'd picked up from Gibbs.

Gibbs…

That sent another crash through her. "I… ha…had a dream" She admitted. "And I think Gibbs is gone but I know he's not and I just… I'm… I'm sorry. Go back to you-"

Tony interrupted her. "I'm on my way now Abbs, your still at NCIS right? Don't apologies remember? Sign of weakness. What are you?"

"Weak." She answered softly. His silence was pointed until she gave the right answer. "Strong."

"You don't sound like you mean it Abigail." He said again, using her name to annoy her, trying to snap her out of it.

When Abby didn't reply quick enough he called again. "Abigail! Don't make me mangle sign language." He used the threat he'd developed when she wasn't communicating with him or was using sign language while knowing he didn't understand it.

"I'll see you here Tony" She said softly, too tired all of a sudden to keep the conversation going and meet his demands. It was pointless… there were easier ways.

"Oh no you don't. You're staying on the phone until I get to you. Don't even think about hanging up Abby." He threatened again. The sound of a car starting and she knew he was on his way.

She said very little from then on, dutifully staying on the phone and answering his questions but she knew his concern was growing with each monosyllabic answer she gave.

She was drifting on the borders of oblivion, her exhaustion, emotional instability, and probably a bad mix of prescription drugs she was on keeping her in a semi conscious state she was too apathetic to try to completely wake up from but Tony's voice kept her from slipping completely into it.

"Where are you Abbs?" The question was the first one in a few minutes and jostled her a little closer to reality.

"Elevator" She said simply.

"Did you press the emergency stop?" He asked, breathing heavily. Abby could hear the sound of his feet pounding on pavement.

"No… I'm tired Ton" A weird mockery of a smile flittered across her face at her most recent mangling on his name. "I'm going to sleep…"

"Abby! Did I give you permission to sleep on the job?" He asked, the way his voice sounded so much like Gibb's made her draw a sharp breath.

"It's three thirty in the morning."  
"And you're still at NCIS because you're working. Stay awake so you'll be able to fill me in on what you found out when I get there."

**"**Too tired" She said and closed her cell phone. She reached up, hitting the button for her lab.

She unsteadily got to her feet when the doors opened and stumbled into her office, collapsing at her desk. Her hands finding the drawer just as a voice broke the silence. "What do you think you're doing?"

She looked up. Tony stood in the doorway with a Caf-pow Abby knew he probably still kept in his fridge for emergencies in one hand and a pointed look on his face.

Abby just stared at him, her knuckles tapping together like they always did when she was freaking out. She hated him seeing her like this but right now all she really cared about was that she couldn't take feeling like this much longer.

Without further prompting he put down the Caf-Pow, came over, helped her to stand, and walked her back into the lab grabbing the Caf-pow on the way.

Sitting against the wall, a iceless caf-pow in her hands and leaning against Tony's shoulders watching him pull out his phone to play Tetris she finally felt grounded in reality a little.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, her entire world made up solely of the wall against her back, the floor under her, the Caf-Pow in her hands, the special agent she leaned against and the cellphone screen of soothingly hypnotic falling blocks. When she took a sip only to find nothing left she sighed. "Your really bad at Tetris Tony"

"Hey" He protested before turning to look at her. "Ready to report Abby?" He asked.

"I guess." She said with a sigh, closing her eyes. She began telling him about the dream, about how she was still afraid that might happen, about how she still felt like she could turn into phylum Cnidaria anytime.

The last thing she remembered before sleep claimed her was Tony telling her she didn't have permission to turn into a jellyfish.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n:** Wow, it's been awhile since I started this and awhile since I've posted. Summer was a bit busy and school hell. Anyway I've got the final chapter of Some Time to Fall Apart in the works and a one shot that's sort of a one shot epilogue called "When You Come Back To Me" partially written so keep your eyes open.

* * *

Gibbs had become so used to Tony running errands for the director his absence when Gibbs arrived that morning was only cause for a exasperated sigh.

After all, they didn't have any active cases to work on and Gibbs would much rather have him off at God knew where when they were doing paperwork than when they were at a crime scene.

Ziva and McGee didn't seem to take much notice of Tony's absence, though when Ziva finished a report a few minutes after Gibbs had arrived he saw her first absently glace towards Tony's desk before reminding herself who and where the boss was again.

Gibbs was a realist. He knew when he came back some things would have changed and not all for the better. He knew Tony had pulled them back together into a team that had no room for him. He'd chosen Tony for the job because he knew sooner or later Tony would figure out how to do that. Now that he was back they were all still trying to readjust once again to the change in the teams dynamics and all he had to do was give it time. Even Ducky was becoming a little less hostile as the days passed.

Gibbs wasn't worried. He had time for life to resume normal, and after all he'd quit and come back knowing full well this would happen. He was just glad he got a second chance at this insane dance of surrogate family he called his NCIS team.

He'd been at NCIS for a little more than an hour when he decided he needed a break from the horrors of paperwork. A visit to Abby's Lab would be just what the doctor ordered. They had been on shaky ground for a little while after his return. She still showed her enthusiasm for just seeing him but he'd noticed the small notes of hesitancy. Her trust in him, something she'd had within hours of their meeting, had been shaken to the core and he wasn't the only one to see that.

He knew what had happened while he was away. He saw the new scars on her arms, the fierce nature of the team's protectiveness of their lab rat that had become so much more intense since he'd left, he saw the disappointment tingeing Ducky's anger when he saw Gibbs with Abby, and more than anything else he saw how Abby looked to Tony.

He'd once overheard Abby musing in her lab about her, Gibbs, and Tony. She'd been lazily discussing with herself and Bert about how if she looked to Gibbs as a father and Tony looked to Gibbs as a father did that make her his little sister by default.

There was no longer a question in Gibbs opinion. He saw the hero worship and sisterly love whenever they were together. That arm around her shoulder and protective glare to anyone trying to flirt with her on Tony's part wasn't to be mistaken for a boyfriend being territorial. Gibbs barely could hide a smile the day before when he all but chased a guy from the mailroom out of her lab after he tried to flirt with Abby.

The fact that Abby indulged his antics was just another sign.

The slight smile on his lips faded when he entered the lab. There on the wall by the window was Abby and his missing senior field agent leaning against one another fast asleep, Abby's head propped on Tony's shoulder and his head on her. It didn't take a trained investigator to read the empty caf-pow, the dead cell phone, Abby wearing yesterdays clothes and the normally impeccably groomed Tony looking like he'd pulled on something while running out the door, not when he knew Abby.

For years he'd been the one Abby called late at night, when she was worn out and worn down and freaking. He'd come to her countless times. Spent dozens of nights with her on this floor keeping Oblivion at bay, especially when she was a new Lab Rat.

But she'd called Tony this time. She'd called someone else. It stung, but it also eased a little bit of worry. She'd survived while he was gone. She'd come back to him in time if she wanted. If she never did it was only what he deserved.

Gibbs shook his head and sighed, walking over to them. As much as he wanted to let them sleep it was work hours and the next person down might take this the wrong way.

He was about to give Tony a gentle headslap when the senior field agent opened his eyes, his grin showing he'd known Gibbs was there for awhile. After a moment the grin faded, the situation sinking in and Gibbs could almost see fears and anger rising within the man. He said nothing, neither wanted to wake Abby.

Tony's hands twitched, it was a moment before Gibbs realized it was a sloppy attempt at signing _"Why?"_

_"Why…?"_ Gibbs signed back, his expression showing mild confusion. He wasn't annoyed, or in shock, or anything.

_"Why leave her?"_ Tony's gestures were choppy, a beginner trying to communicate but the words hit Gibbs in his gut. It was the question no one had asked because no one was quiet sure what answer they wanted.

Gibbs sighed, closing his eyes and crossed his thumb over his heart. _"I'm sorry" _No explanation, no words could explain everything that had driven him away from this life, this family, his promises to that jaded Baltimore cop he hired six years ago and his duty to the sad scared girl he'd met nearly a decade ago. He wouldn't apologies again but he would apologies to this eldest son and favorite daughter once. These two children deserved that much.

When he opened his eyes Abby was awake, looking at him with that same happy hero worshipping smile. A smile more hidden and controlled but still there in his senior field agent.

"You two done napping? Your late Dinozzo." Gibbs said before the moment could get uncomfortably mushy.

Tony all but jumped to his feet. "Up boss."

"Go home Abbs, get some sleep and be back at noon." Gibbs said, handing her the Caf-Pow. "Now Abbs." She saluted and went to get ready to leave. Gibbs turned, heading to the elevator, trying to tell himself that the situation hadn't had him a little embarrassed. "Tony!" He called back to make sure the boy was moving.

"On your six boss."

The words made him smile a little. It was weird how he'd realized they were reassuring while he was in Mexico, only realizing it when he found himself missing that. He mentally shook himself, getting sentimental didn't suit him. "If you ever do that again…"

"Boss I-…"

"You better stay with her until your sure she's good."

"On it boss."


End file.
